A painter’s prickly obsession

By Summer Olsson

Eason Eige has been painting the same subject for six years. Like many artists, he has expressed his fascination with, and perception of, his muse in series after series. But what makes Eige a bit different from the others is that his model isn’t a person. It’s a cactus. Specifically, it’s the prickly pear growing in front of San Felipe de Neri, the church in Old Town’s plaza. When the Alibi called to learn more about The Black Series, his upcoming show at the Bright Rain Gallery, Eige was at home, working on a painting he started in front of the church the day before.

Pulitzer winner writes sadness-soaked memoir

Review by John Bear

Thoughts Without Cigarettes

Oscar Hijuelos is known primarily for his novel Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, with which he became the first Latino author to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. (It was later made into the film Mambo Kings, starring not-Cuban actors Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.) Hijuelos came through Albuquerque in June. If you missed him, his new memoir will keep you company until he returns.